We sit in the middle of Carlton Gardens. The Royal Exhibition Building looms in front of us, the sky blue behind it. I can hear rushing cars, rushing trams, rushing water from the fountain. Everything moving around us. It’s nice to be slow. He unpacks a feast between us––chunks of feta, slices of bread, sundried … Continue reading Love in the Time of Cancer
‘Abbu, I saw a counsellor today,’ I said, clutching the corner of the kitchen counter top. I waited for my dad’s response, feeling a little too hopeful. How could I think telling my dad I was having mental health issues would evoke the sensitivity I deserve? It was nothing against him personally, he is my … Continue reading Unmuting Mental Health: Breaking the Taboo at Home
The owner of Melbourne’s soon-to-be erstwhile Cherry Bar is hard to miss: after all, he wears a big hat. (Indoors? Indoors.) Although one doesn’t really make out faces from any stage, anywhere–unless there aren’t any faces all, delivering you from the challenge–trademark silhouettes travel well, in spite of distance or dazzling lighting. Impossibly, some manner … Continue reading A Lament to Cherry
It’s 6:15 on a Saturday morning. The alarm is a cruel reminder of my agreeing to go to a football game. He offers to make breakfast and leaves me to sleep another 15 minutes. But I’m awake now, alone with my thoughts, dream recollections and mental to-do lists of things I should be doing instead … Continue reading Tales of the Terminally Distracted
4 pm: I finish my internship and catch the tram home in time for Pointless. I make dinner and a tea. I watch the news and I play a game on my laptop. I make a note of the uni work I need to complete, a job for after tomorrow’s breakfast. Tomorrow is Thursday and … Continue reading Soundtrack to the Night Shift
'Transition’, among many things, is the phase during childbirth where a woman’s cervix dilates fully to prepare for the baby’s descent into the birth canal and then the world. It is often said to be the most gruelling part of labour and is typically characterised as the time when the woman will say that she … Continue reading Transition
Millennials were forged in an era of uncertainty. We came of age on the back of the financial crisis, adapting to a changing economic world in which our degrees suddenly didn't matter so much, and we are paid only in exposure and experience. We fight for basic housing situations and low-paying graduate jobs, while more … Continue reading Revisiting the M Word
I wouldn’t say I ever ‘tried’ to become anorexic. Upon realising that I was, I found the pull of a casual stroll through various ‘pro-ana’ blogs irresistible, but aside from a renewed urge to be the best anorexic ever, I found the content rather distasteful. Anorexia is an incredibly competitive disease and engaging with other … Continue reading Anorexia and the Sublime
[A television is on broadcasting the six o’clock news. LUCE watches avidly, making notes. EMILY is reading the play ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.] LUCE: God, I can’t believe this… EMILY: The world’s a messed up place. LUCE: You’ve got that right… an Australian teen joining ISIS. Where are his parents? EMILY: Mmm. [Enter SASHA. She … Continue reading Much Ado About…
Introduction I wanted to use this piece to explore my experience of being an outsider in Australia and look at how a false sense of isolation from world issues can prevent a person from perceiving the real-life issues around them. I used Mags to represent an extremely America-centric view, and Mira to represent a more … Continue reading The Head
